10 High-End PCs That Are Worth Your Hard-Earned Dollars

The PC industry is in the midst of a worrisome slump. As tablet sales soar and consumers continue to put down their notebooks for an iPad, PC makers are finding that sales are on the downturn. Recently, research firm Gartner revealed that PC shipments were down 8.3 percent year-over-year during the third quarter of 2012, landing at 87.5 million units. Last year, the PC market shipped 95.4 million units worldwide. Another research firm, IDC, offered up similarly sobering third-quarter data, saying that the PC market was down 8.6 percent from the same period last year. That company said 87.8 million PCs shipped worldwide. PCs are under siege. Today's consumers are increasingly turning to tablets to handle their mobile computing needs. Meanwhile, desktops continue their slow descent into computing obscurity as customers increasingly value the ability to do work wherever they are. Add that to Windows 8's impending launch, which is causing many corporate IT decision makers to hold back on purchases, and it becomes a recipe for real trouble. But that doesn't mean that the PC market is dying—far from it. In fact, there are several PCs available now that are definitely worth the hard-earned dollars of the average consumer or even today's enterprise buyers. This eWEEK slide show takes a look at some of the current PC models that are worth buying right now.

1 of 11

Dell XPS 13

The Dell XPS 13 is one of the nicest Ultrabooks available today. The device is ultra-thin and comes with a 13-inch screen. Customers can choose between an Intel Core i5 processor or an Intel Core i7 chip. In either case, they're getting quite a bit for a starting price of $1,000.